Suffolk unanimously approved surface mining on a property in the southwestern part of the city.
A roughly six-mile drive from the city of Franklin, part of the property is designated as a natural heritage site.
City Council Member Timothy Johnson called the vote a “tough one.”
“Sometimes when you’re working with the government, the government needs to give a little bit and we need to work together,” Johnson told WHRO.
The operation will turn 212 acres of the land at 12000 Wyanoke Trail into borrow pits, where sand is extracted for construction projects. The property is owned by Paxton Holdings.
“Some of the sand here has great value,” said Jesse Johnson, a lawyer representing Paxton. “It can be used in golf courses [and] other cosmetic-type circumstances.”
The southern portion of the property, though, is within the South Quay Conservation Site, a natural heritage site and the last natural stand of longleaf pine in the Commonwealth.
“The conservation sites themselves do not necessarily represent protected lands,” said Kevin Wyne, Suffolk’s director of planning and community development. “But they are recommended for protection and stewardship because of the natural heritage, resources and habitat they support.”
The site is in rough condition. Years of logging by Union Camp have left the woods mangled.
“The forests are so tight you can’t walk through them,” said Molly Bertsch, an environmental scientist from MAP Environmental Inc. of Virginia Beach. “The interior wetlands are overrun with invasive species.”
Bertsch said no remaining longleaf pine is found on the Paxton property, and controlled burning would be necessary to clear out growth that stops longleaf pine from prospering.
The land borders the 3700-acre South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve to the south. Jason Bullock, director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s natural heritage program, said the preserve also went through a period of logging before being restored.
“This site is significant for the longleaf pine ecosystem restoration work that has happened south of it,” Bullock said.
He added that removing the property’s upland sands, which the operation will target for extraction, would prevent the restoration of longleaf pine at the site.
City staff recommended denying Paxton’s permit request, noting the property is identified for preservation in Suffolk’s 2035 comprehensive plan.
“While the plans for the site do envision the conversion of the mines into a recreational space at some point in the future, it would be at the expense of its most valuable resource – the sandy uplands – which would be suitable for the restoration of the longleaf pine tree,” Wyne said.
After deferring the vote in May, City council in July agreed with the planning commission and opted to allow the operation after hearing the developers’ reclamation plans.
While not binding, the plan details Paxton Holdings’ vision for the site during and after mining. That includes creating lakes in areas with sufficient depth and installing wetland mitigation banks on the southern end of the property.
Jeffrey Paxton also told city officials he will give Suffolk first right of refusal on the land when surface mining is exhausted in a decade or more. Suffolk once considered buying the property for a park, but plans and financing fell through.
Council members like Shelley Butler Barlow expressed concern about sand extraction at the site. Timothy Johnson was staunchly opposed to the operation in his Holy Neck Borough at the council’s May meeting, but cast his vote in support in July.
Johnson said he did so knowing the permit would be approved with or without him.
“And I wouldn’t have had him guarantee to me that he was going to look after [the land] in the end,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he’d feel better if Suffolk had acquired the site and developed it years ago, but was pleased with Paxton Holdings’ plan to return the property to public ownership and access in the future.
“I'm hoping that I set up the future of the site so that we will get some use out of it at some point,” he said. “They can make their profit off of the mine [...] and we are making every assumption that it will come back to the city and we can put a park in.”
